Determinants Of Environmental Disclosure Research Articles

Environmental disclosure on mandatory and voluntary reporting of Portuguese listed firms: the role of environmental certification, lucratively and corporate governance

Purpose This study aims to construct two environmental disclosure indices (EDI), one obtained from the mandatory reporting (annual report) and the other from the voluntary reporting (sustainability report), to compare their evolution. In addition, the authors developed and evaluated a conceptual model that aims to analyse if the two EDI are affected by industry, environmental certification, lucratively and corporate governance attributes. The legitimacy, signalling and voluntary disclosure theories are used to support the theoretical relationship between the company’s characteristics, corporate governance and environmental disclosure. Design/methodology/approach Using the content analysis technique, the authors have developed two indices to assess the level of environmental disclosure in the companies’ mandatory and voluntary reporting. In addition, to analyse the determinants of EDI, the authors applied the technique of multiple linear regression using panel data. Findings Based on Portuguese listed companies (Euronext-Lisbon), the results, from 2015 to 2017, exhibited an increase of 14.6% and 25.8% for the EDI obtained from the annual reports and for EDI obtained from the sustainability reporting, respectively. In addition, the results revealed that the environmental certification, lucratively, number of members on board and number and proportion of women of the board directors tend to affect the annual reporting EDI. Regarding the sustainability reporting EDI, the results showed that the environmental certification, lucratively and proportion of independent members of the board of directors have an impact on it. Research limitations/implications The study focuses on quantitative rather than qualitative disclosures and it brings some insights to the theoretical field. Practical implications The results obtained can assist corporate decision-making processes regarding the improvement of environmental disclosure, both on the mandatory annual report and on voluntary sustainability reports. Originality/value This study brings new perspectives to this topical issue in accounting. Originally, this study is applied to Portuguese listed companies and it shows different trends and determinants of environmental disclosure when included in the annual reporting or sustainability reporting.

Corporate governance and environmental disclosure through integrated reporting

PurposeIn recent years, integrated reporting has emerged as a tool to provide environmental information in an interconnected way. However, in the academic literature, the amount of environmental information contained in integrated reports has never been analysed. This study, through the stakeholder-agency theory, aims to fill this important gap by examining the impact of the corporate governance mechanisms on the level of environmental information disseminated by the firms through integrated reports.Design/methodology/approachA manual content analysis based on an environmental disclosure index consisting of 30 items was performed to measure the amount of environmental information. In addition, a regression analysis was performed on a sample of 129 international firms to examine the impact of the corporate governance mechanisms on the level of environmental information disseminated through integrated reports.FindingsThe results show a positive effect of the board size, board gender diversity and corporate social responsibility committee existence on the level of environmental disclosure. Furthermore, they show a non-significant impact of board independence.Originality/valueThis study enriches the literature in several ways. First, it extends the field of application of the stakeholder-agency theory. Second, this study extends the analysis of environmental disclosure to another document – the integrated report – still unexplored by academic literature. Finally, it shed light on the determinants of environmental disclosure.

The Determinants of Environmental Disclosure in Companies in Indonesia

The purpose of this study is to identify the factors that influence environmental disclosure. The study population is 156 companies consisted of companies in the agricultural sector, the consumer goods industry sector, and the basic & chemical industry sector which were listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange and participated in PROPER 2014-2018. The purposive sampling method was used to determine the research sample in order to obtain 26 company samples or 130 units of analysis. The analysis technique in this study uses multiple linear regression analysis. The results of this study indicate that the level of environmental disclosure in the three corporate sectors in Indonesia is classified as low, due to the absence of standard guidelines for conducting environmental disclosure, so it is still voluntary. The results also show that the variables of board commissioners’ size, size of the audit committee, environmental certification, profitability, and company size have a significant positive effect on environmental disclosure, while leverage has no effect on environmental disclosure. With the low level of corporate environmental disclosure in Indonesia, it is hoped that the government can establish standard, precise, and mandatory guidelines so that companies can further increase information regarding environmental disclosure.

Determinants of Environmental Disclosure in Indonesia

This study aims to identify the impacts of audit committees, audit committee meetings, and boards of commissioner meetings (BCM) on environmental performance and environmental disclosure (ED). The population of this study was 89 companies listed in LQ45 for the period 2011-2016. By using purposive sampling technique, this study identified 23 companies as samples. Path analysis based on the structural equation model was used. Environmental performance had a significant and positive effect on ED, audit committee meetings also determined ED and BCM, but have no effect on environmental performance. BCM did not have any significant effect on environmental performance. Audit committee had a significant positive effect on audit committee meetings. While size had a positive effect on the audit committee and BCM but did not affect the audit committee meeting. These results indicate that the discussion in audit committee meetings and BCM focused more on the ED rather than environmental performance.

Determinants of environmental disclosure: investigating new and conventional corporate governance characteristics

This study investigated corporate governance factors that could shape the decision for sustainability reporting. Specifically, this paper sets out to investigate the environmentally sensitive properties of distinct corporate governance characteristics vis-a-vis sustainable concerns strengthening the decision to develop environmental disclosures. Regarding explanatory variables, the study focused on corporate governance because it sets the rules and processes by which a firm is managed. Five plausible individual characteristics were employed in our proposed model, namely, “Independent Directors”, “presence of Lead Independent Director”, “frequency of Audit Committee Meetings”, “presence of Sustainable Committee”, and the “Age of the Youngest Director”. We utilized the Environmental facet of Environmental, Social and Governance score calculated by Bloomberg as a proxy driving the decision to disseminate environmental information. Hypotheses were tested using a Logit model for a sample of a total of 278 firms from the United States listed S&P 500. Results revealed that the “Age of the Youngest Director” has a negative effect, while “Independent Directors” and the “presence of Lead Independent Director” variables seem to strengthen the decision to develop environmental disclosures. Implications are valuable to different stakeholders and policy makers interested in improving corporate governance initiatives to reducing agency costs and enhancing corporate sustainable transparency.

Determinants of Environmental Disclosure. Does Leverage Matter? Reflection from Firms Listed in the Nairobi Security Exchange

This paper aimed to examine the effect of leverage on environmental accounting disclosure among the firms listed in the Nairobi Securities Exchange, Kenya. The research was guided by the stakeholder’s theory. The study adopted both explanatory and longitudinal research designs. The target population comprised of the 65 listed firms at Nairobi Securities Exchange from 2008 to 2017. However, inclusion criteria were the 27 listed firms consistently operating from 2008 to 2017 giving a total of 270 firm-year observations. The findings showed that leverage (β = -.16, ρ<.05) had a negative and significant effect on environmental disclosure in Kenyan listed firms. Similarly, the overall R2 showed a joint contribution of 17% of predictor variables that explain environmental accounting disclosure. The study concludes that leverage is a key predictor of environmental accounting disclosure. Firms listed at the Nairobi Securities Exchange ought to reduce debt financing so as to increase the level of environmental accounting disclosure.

Empirical study on determinants of environmental disclosure

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the status of corporate environment on the websites and annual reports of selected companies. This paper also attempts to study the relationship between company variables and the level of corporate environment disclosure on the company website and annual reports.Design/methodology/approachThis study is based on the websites and annual reports of top 100 listed companies on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The companies are selected on the basis of market capitalization as on March 31, 2014. The data are collected on the basis of Global Reporting Initiative-3 Guidelines.Findings14 and 30 per cent of the companies do not disclose environmental information on the website and annual report, respectively. There is no specific space for the disclosure of information on this vital issue; information was found scattered in the various sections of the website and annual report. Waste treatment, water management and carbon foot is the focus area of 53, 46 and 40 companies on the website, respectively, whereas in annual reports, energy conservation, water management and waste management attracts the attention of 79, 86 and 82 companies, respectively. The environmental disclosure on the website and overall disclosure has association with leverage, company size and systematic risk. Profitability and environmental disclosure were found to be inversely associated.Practical implicationsThe government through appropriate guidelines should make the environmental disclosure mandatory for all the companies. Disclosure of environmental information such as penalties imposed and suits faced under environmental laws and notices received from pollution control boards and such other activities which have damaged environmental resources must be made mandatory. The accounting bodies should develop the accounting standard in respect of items and manner of disclosure. While framing environmental disclosure guidelines, special attention should be given to the disclosure of information related to water management, air and land pollution as these are the basic necessities for the existence of life on this planet.Originality/valueThis study is unique as it makes the comparative analysis of disclosure through annual reports and the company website of selected Indian companies.

Determinants of environmental disclosure in annual reports of Sri Lankan listed manufacturing companies

The aim of this study is to investigate the level of corporate environmental information disclosure practices of listed manufacturing companies in Sri Lanka. The study also examined the influence of firm size, profitability and listing age on the level of corporate environmental information disclosure. To achieve the aims of this study, content analysis and statistical analysis were used. Content analysis by word count is used to determine the level of social and environmental disclosures on annual reports of Sri Lankan listed manufacturing companies. To determine the factors that explain the level of social and environmental information disclosures, descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and multiple regressions analysis were used. The finding indicates that 50.63% of the companies provided corporate environmental information in their 2012/2013 annual reports. Multiple regression analysis revealed that size of the firm had significant positive relationship with the level of corporate environmental information disclosure. However, corporate environmental disclosure has not been influenced by the profitability and listing age.

Determinants of Environmental Disclosure in Thai Corporate Annual Reports

This study investigated the extent and content of environmental information disclosure provided in the annual reports of companies listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), and tested whether there were any relationships between the amount of environmental disclosure and a number of company characteristics used in previous studies conducted in more developed countries. By using a simple sampling method, 75 listed companies were selected for inclusion in the study based on their 2007 annual reports. The findings indicate that 62 companies (83%) provided environmental information in their annual reports. Companies in the resources industry group made the most disclosure of environmental information, while the least disclosure was made by companies in the agricultural and food industries group. The most common location of environmental reporting in annual reports was under the topic of corporate governance. The most common themes of disclosures were environmental policy, environmental activities, and waste management. There was a positive relationship between the amount of environmental disclosures and size of company.

Determinants of environmental disclosures by Indian industrial listed companies: empirical study

The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors influencing the level of environmental disclosure information from a sample of 45 Indian industrial listed companies in their websites. In order to explain the reasons for the disclosure of environmental information by the companies, legitimacy theory is applied in this paper. The evidence shows that there is a tendency to disclose the environmental protection information but the level of disclosures is still low. Multiple regression analysis shows a positive association between size, and industry type with the disclosure index. Large sized firms, which are heavily polluted, tend to disclose higher level of information. However, profitability and financial leverage have no impact on the disclosure level. The study’s findings help understand Indian industrial listed firms’ behaviour in terms of environmental disclosure.

Determinants of environmental disclosure in the annual reports of large companies operating in Portugal

AbstractSimilarly to what has happened in other countries, since the early 1990s Portuguese companies have developed corporate environmental reporting practices in response to internal and external factors. This paper is based on empirical research directed to both the study of environmental reporting practices developed by Portuguese companies and the identification of the factors that explain the extent to which these companies disclose environmental information. This study focuses on the environmental disclosures made in the annual reports by a sample of 109 large firms operating in Portugal during the period 2002–04. Using the content analysis technique we have developed an index in order to assess the presence of the environmental disclosures in companies' annual reports and their breadth. Based on the extant literature, several characteristics relating to firms' attributes were selected and their influence on the level of environmental disclosure was tested empirically. The selected explanatory variables were firm size, industry membership, profitability, foreign ownership, quotation on the stock market and environmental certification. The results reveal that, in spite of the fact that the level of environmental information disclosed during the period 2002–04 is low, the extent of environmental disclosure has increased as well as the number of Portuguese companies that disclose environmental information. Moreover, the firm size and the fact that a company is listed on the stock market are positively related to the extent of environmental disclosure. This study adds to the international research on environmental disclosure by providing empirical data from a country, Portugal, where empirical evidence is still relatively unknown, extending the scope of the current understanding of the environmental reporting practices. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.